We started out our Marlborough wine tasting at the Saint Clair Family Estate winery.  They produce a number of different varieties of wine, including some red wines.  If you live in the United States you may well be able to find their wines locally – they export to all but three states (naturally California isn’t one of them…sigh).

We tasted the:

Riesling – Very dry.  Not fruity enough for us.

Sauvignon Blanc, Pioneer Block – $23NZD, very fruity and nice.

Gewürztraminer #12, Pioneer Block – Very sweet and fruity.

2007 Merlot (Pioneer Block 14) – Fruity with a strong after-taste

2007 Pinot, Rapaura Reserve – We REALLY wanted to like this wine.  They seemed so proud of it.  But sadly we found it oddly smoky with a strong, unpleasant aftertaste.  Sigh.